When you finally enter the Union Cave, you'll get to explore an all-new location with plenty of Pokemon that you can capture. Amongst them are the usual Pokemon cave fare -- Zubats, Onix, Geodudes, and the like. Watery areas within Union Cave will again surrender mostly-useless Magikarp when you wield your Old Rod, and those playing the HeartGold version of the game will likely find additional Pokemon here that their SoulSilver-playing counterparts won't.

As you begin to head westward from the entrance, you'll almost immediately meet a split in the path, with one going to the north and the other to the south. A vast, vast majority of the cave, in addition to the exit leading out to Route 33, are to the south. And that's where you'll ultimately need to go. But before you head that way, work your way to the northwest section of this cave, where a trainer can be fought, and a staircase leading further into this subterranean location can be found. While you won't be able to explore the full extent of this location without the ability to use Surf, you can still find a few items down here. Remember to search all stones and rocks you encounter, as many items will be found in them. Items like X Speed, TM39 and X Defend can be acquired down here.

When you're back on the main floor of the cave, you can then continue to the south. Take our advice we mentioned in the previous paragraph to heart -- most items in locations like this are actually found in stones and rocks as opposed to out in the open in their Poke Ball-like appearance. So, as you go southward, examine everything you encounter. In addition to fighting all sorts of trainers with easy parties to lay waste to (with the exception of Poke Maniac Larry and his pesky level eleven Slowpoke), you'll find a slew of items. Amongst those items are an X Attack, two Great Balls, a Paralyze Heal, Awakening, and a Potion. You can really buff-out your inventory here at the Union Cave, so be thorough in your exploration. As you head south, there are many dead-end offshoots heading westward that you should be sure to scour.

Otherwise, there's little remarkable about Union Cave. There may or may not be some Pokemon you'll want to capture here (an Onix, for instance, might be an alluring capture, if you can arrange it), but other than the items you find here and the trainers you will inevitably do battle with, there's nothing else to say. There's no real way to get lost here, or turned around. It should be said, however, that you'll be fighting mostly rock-based Pokemon that could certainly frustrate you if you don't have the proper tools to deal with them. Parties that don't have grass-attacking or water-attacking Pokemon will have to slowly whittle down these foes' health meters, but those who can attack with grass or water will laugh at how easy enemies like Onix and Geodude will fall.

Head down the staircase to find an X-Defend on one side and TM39 - Rock Tomb on the other. That's all there is to do down there, head back up stairs. Once upstairs head south until you come across a trainer: